As the world responds to the simultaneous challenges of climate change and increased demands for certain commodities such as food and energy, land use and land cover are changing.
Increasing plantation forestry and agricultural monocultures are turning once diverse landscapes into areas with a single plant species, which affects the terrestrial water cycle.
A new paper published in Nature Geoscience, led by Delphis Levia and Irena Creed in a global collaboration with interdisciplinary researchers studying ecohydrological systems, calls for policymakers and decision makers to ensure these water-vegetation interactions are taken into account when making decisions about land use and land cover changes.
Levia, a professor of ecohydrology in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences in the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, said that while land-use cover change can be well intentioned — whether it is done to increase carbon sequestration or meet growing food, water, and energy demands — it can have unintended consequences that affect the water cycle.
Continue reading at University of Delaware.
Image via iStock, Delphis Levia.